Oregon has legalized human composting • Hacker News Board

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#191

Post by betwixthewires » Sat, Jun 19, 2021, 12:42 AM UTC

tastyfreeze wrote: post #95

bolangi wrote: post #88

According to Dr. Elaine Ingham, "the compost tea lady", a large compost pile designed to be anaerobic can consume cow carcasses. It does take several months.

>designed to be anaerobic aerobic - with oxygen Anaerobic decomposes as well but it is not compost. Anaerobic decomposition is putrefaction and creates the "smell of death"

No, actually, they meant anaerobic. There's a trend nowadays where organic matter is steeped in water in a sealed container and allowed to decay without oxygen and the water is used to water plants, hence "compost tea." Maybe "compost" isn't strictly a good word for it but that's what they call it.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#192

Post by civilized » Sat, Jun 19, 2021, 12:47 AM UTC

ford_o wrote: post #183

lph wrote: post #131

My mother passed away a few weeks ago. It was her wish to go with Recompose. She was a master gardener, and to her, the idea of returning to the ecosystem was so much better than cremation or a cemetery. Through Recompose, her 'soil' will be donated to a reforesting project. As you can imagine, I've ruminated a lot on this lately. What's the purpose of a tombstone, or a plaque, or an urn full of ashes? To memorialize…

For one, tombstone cannot lead to prion desease.

I really doubt that anyone is going to get prions from composted human remains used in a reforesting project.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#193

Post by saagarjha » Sat, Jun 19, 2021, 12:57 AM UTC

Pxtl wrote: post #94

ajdegol wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This would be a spectacular way to go! Well, post-go.

Set up one of those thermal solar power plants that are like a sea of mirrors and a tower with a boiler on top, then raise the body in a cage on a winch to the top. "Head towards the light".

That would be a specular way to go.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#194

Post by pubutil » Sat, Jun 19, 2021, 1:02 AM UTC

arkush wrote: post #151

"Recompose, the country’s first human composting funeral home does it like this: a corpse is placed in a cylinder with organic materials, like wood chips, plants, and straw, then heated and turned repeatedly for several weeks with a hook until it’s broken down into a nutrient-rich soil that can be delivered back to the family or used for planting." Every time I read about using human corpses to produce soil, I recall…

I spent a bit of time on Recompose’s site a couple of months back out of curiosity. One of the things that stuck out to me was that there were stipulations regarding a person’s medical records. The presence of prion diseases or hepatitis were listed as reasons one could be rejected by Recompose, among other illnesses.

I want to say they’re aware of the issue, but when I went back to look for this info today I couldn’t find it. So unfortunately you’ll have to take this with a grain of salt.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#195

Post by InsaneOstrich » Sat, Jun 19, 2021, 1:02 AM UTC

paulpauper wrote: post #61

Recompose, the country’s first human composting funeral home does it like this: a corpse is placed in a cylinder with organic materials, like wood chips, plants, and straw, then heated and turned repeatedly for several weeks with a hook until it’s broken down into a nutrient-rich soil that can be delivered back to the family or used for planting. It's like what the mafia used to do to dissolve bodies

What do they do with the skeleton?

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#196

Post by NaturalPhallacy » Sat, Jun 19, 2021, 1:05 AM UTC

maxerickson wrote: post #155

learc83 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were smaller populations of humans, but not smaller populations of mammals in general.

With our skill at making meat, I wonder how true that is.

Bison are much better at making meat than we ever were, before we all but wiped them out. Google piles of bison skulls for a peek.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#197

Post by exolymph » Sat, Jun 19, 2021, 1:06 AM UTC

gandalfian wrote: post #24

I always remember Cardinal Newman instructing for a load of compost to be dumped on top of his coffin to prevent there being anything to dig up and sanctify. They still tried a hundred years later but all they found was a brass plaque and earth...

> Newman's beatification was still dragging on fitfully when Pope Benedict fast-tracked him two years ago. On a wet October day in 2008, an assortment of priests and grave-diggers arrived at the cemetery in Rednal, armed with shovels and a mechanical digger. They planned to transfer Newman's remains to a tomb back at his church in Birmingham. Nothing was found except the brass name-plate and a few bits of rotten wood. A solution to the mystery was discovered in the archives of the Birmingham Post. A journalist at the burial reported that, on Newman’s orders, the grave was filled with compost to hasten decomposition. His corpse (someone described him in great age as toothless and shrivelled like "a shrimp") had apparently dissolved into the soil. He had cheated the relic hunters.

https://www.ft.com/content/0e6f301c-baea-11df-9e1d-00144feab...

for anyone else who was curious :)

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#198

Post by CryptoPunk » Sat, Jun 19, 2021, 1:28 AM UTC

lph wrote: post #131

My mother passed away a few weeks ago. It was her wish to go with Recompose. She was a master gardener, and to her, the idea of returning to the ecosystem was so much better than cremation or a cemetery. Through Recompose, her 'soil' will be donated to a reforesting project. As you can imagine, I've ruminated a lot on this lately. What's the purpose of a tombstone, or a plaque, or an urn full of ashes? To memorialize…

With respect to graves especially, they are an archeological treasure trove.

If in the far far future we develop a means of resurrecting the dead, the epitaphs on tombstones may be used to determine who deserves resurrection. But of course this is extremely fanciful speculation.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#199

Post by maxerickson » Sat, Jun 19, 2021, 1:42 AM UTC

NaturalPhallacy wrote: post #196

maxerickson wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With our skill at making meat, I wonder how true that is.

Bison are much better at making meat than we ever were, before we all but wiped them out. Google piles of bison skulls for a peek.

I think the comparison is hard more than it is obvious. There's an awful lot of humans, pets and livestock.

Re: Oregon has legalized human composting

#200

Post by madengr » Sat, Jun 19, 2021, 1:48 AM UTC

prepend wrote: post #75

paulpauper wrote: post #61

Recompose, the country’s first human composting funeral home does it like this: a corpse is placed in a cylinder with organic materials, like wood chips, plants, and straw, then heated and turned repeatedly for several weeks with a hook until it’s broken down into a nutrient-rich soil that can be delivered back to the family or used for planting. It's like what the mafia used to do to dissolve bodies

This description seems unpleasant, especially the hook part. I expect they need some better description that doesn’t involve people picturing themself or their loved ones being torn up by a hook.

Could be worse. Check out this hog composting:

https://youtu.be/U9kw0A9_oCM